


Good Plan, Flawed Execution

by antigrav_vector



Series: Spiraling Ever Upward [9]
Category: Captain America (MCU), Iron Man (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual James Rhodes, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bisexual Tony Stark, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/M, M/M, Multi, POV Tony Stark, Tabletop Gaming, Threesome - M/M/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 10:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17579390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: When Pepper said her friend had two boyfriends, she completely neglected to describe either of them. Tony felt it didn't violate his promise not to hit on them if he hadn't known who they were when he did it.





	Good Plan, Flawed Execution

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed.
> 
> Since I've finally finished the big bang drafts in my queue, I'm back to working on other things for a little while. That means y'all get a new installment of my college AU of my OT6 fic series [Like trying to stop an avalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/series/380455).

"Seriously?" Tony gritted out, the words half strangled by the chokehold he was in. Thankfully, he could breathe reasonably easily, but he couldn't get loose no matter how he squirmed or twisted. "What the fuck, are you some kind of secret agent? Let me up!"

Pepper was hanging back just out of reach and visibly trying to decide whether to freak out or laugh.

"Tony," Rhodey sighed and pinched at his nose, "I keep hoping that one of these days you might learn to keep your moth shut."

The pair of buff guys he'd hit on, outrageously so he could pass it off as a joke if he needed to, were leaning on each other and still doubled over laughing. He hadn't even managed to get their names before he'd been accosted by the deadly redhead pinning him down.

"Come on, let him up, Nat," the brunet with the sexy manbun said, catching his breath. "No need to injure him or anything."

He knew the redhead perched on his back was scowling at him without needing to look. "He should know better than to say such things to someone else's boyfriend," she replied, her lightly accented voice sour.

Rhodey interceded, luckily for Tony's continued existence. "Tony's a flirt by nature," he said, "unless he gets a response, there's no need to worry that he'll make a move."

The buff blond guy grinned and nudged the brunet with his elbow. "Sounds like someone else I know," he put in, and leaned down to offer Nat a hand up. She huffed, and her grip on him tightened for a moment, warningly, before she let him go and accepted the assistance though she clearly didn't need it.

Tony just stayed where he was for a few seconds. "Go on without me," he told Pepper. "We'll meet again in the next life."

"Drama queen," Pepper muttered, fondness underlying her exasperation, and rolled her eyes. "You're fine, get up."

"How do you deal with so much ridiculousness?" Nat asked her.

"Lots of practice," Pepper answered. "But it helps that he's actually sweet once you get past the ridiculous."

Tony pushed himself over onto his back and covered his face with one arm, if they went on like this he'd end up blushing and ruin his reputation. "See if I ever build you anything fun ever again," he muttered.

Rhodey grabbed at his arm and hauled him to his feet. "Sure, sure," he said, humouring Tony. "Go wash your face and hands. We'll order you a coffee while we wait."

The tea house was thankfully almost empty save for them, so Tony didn't argue. At least there hadn't been many people around to witness his embarrassment, and it wasn't like he frequented this place much. Though that might change, if this tabletop campaign Pepper was trying to get them involved in actually got off the ground.

By the time he was back at the table, the others had arranged themselves around it comfortably, leaving him a spot between Rhodey and Pepper, and everyone had a character sheet and dice in front of them. That probably meant, Pepper and Rhodey had managed to smooth things over and he wasn't in trouble. Or that he'd paid for his insolence, such as it was.

Which, Tony thought to himself grumpily as he pulled a character sheet over for himself, he blamed squarely on Pepper. How the hell was he supposed to know the pair of them were taken, much less Pepper's poly friend's boyfriends? She'd never told him anything about them. It almost seemed as if she'd wanted him to make a bad first impression. Hell, if he'd seen Nat first, he might have come onto her instead. Not that that would necessarily have worked out any better, but... ugh.

And Nat was going to be their DM. That probably meant be should stat out a backup character for when she inevitably killed him off. Possibly two.

"Hey, Steve," Manbun asked after a couple of silent minutes had passed, broken only by murmured conversation and the rattle of dice, "you sure you want to min-max your character that hard?"

Tony quickly made note of the name. "If he does it right," he answered absently as he continued working on his own persona, "it could still be brutally effective."

The game was homebrew, essentially their everyday world plus superpowers. There would still be the usual archetypes available, but it would be a bit like that mutants-among-us comics series. Tony had decided for what was effectively a modern knight in armour that could fly. He had no idea what Steve had picked, but that was beside the point.

"If my character's smart enough to get out of most scrapes and strong enough to handle anything else," Steve put in, "that's good enough for me, Bucky. Nat won't kill us off unless we get on her nerves. You know that."

Bucky eyed him in disbelief for a moment, then shrugged, apparently willing to let Steve learn the hard way that DMs could be cruel heartless creatures who got off on sadistically tormenting their players. "Your skin, not mine," he said and went back to statting out his own. Tony stole a glance at Bucky's sheet, and was amused to note that the guy had gone with a vaguely Roman-Gladiator kind of vibe, armouring up one arm and leaving the other bear, and maxed out his toon's ability to heal himself.

That was an interesting combination, and Tony was looking forward to seeing how it worked out for him.

Rhodey had decided to go with his usual knight's build, going with firepower so that he complemented Tony's maneuverability. Pepper, Tony was amused to see, had chosen to make her character as unobtrusive as she could, but also as powerful. Come out of nowhere to nuke them from orbit, he thought with a grin. That was just like her, and Tony loved to see her in action.

"You know," he commented idly, "we don't have a 'zerker or anything totally ridiculous like a flyer with lightning powers."

Steve and Bucky exchanged expressive 'what the hell even' looks. Nat smiled secretively, as though she had a plan in place for that already.

Tony wouldn't put it past her.

"We shouldn't need them, so long as we're reasonably strategic about how we handle encounters," Steve replied.

"Famous last words," Rhodey muttered.

Pepper laughed.


End file.
